This blog is an exploration of principled problem solving which is an initiative at Guilford College encouraging a focus of people's abilities and experiences toward solving real-world problems under the guidance of the college’s core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship.

September 2009

09/13/2009

The
Center for Principled Problem, in association with the Faculty
Development Committee, and in cooperation with the Bonner Center for
Community Learning and the Initiative on Faith and Practice, is hosting
a series of educational opportunities and events for Guilford faculty
and staff in the area known as Civic Engagement. The CPPS Civic
Engagement Initiative, or CEI, is still taking shape but several things
have been finalized and are listed on the CPPS web page.

CEI
programs and events are for both members of the teaching faculty or for
any staff member who spends a significant amount of time working
directly with students.

What is Civic Engagement?

The term
Civic Engagement is becoming a nationally recognized term for a range
of learning and teaching activities that touch upon issues of public
concern. Barbara Jacoby, host of the online seminar listed below,
offers the following definition for Civic Engagement (CE):

I
define civic engagement as acting upon a heightened sense of
responsibility to one’s communities, which include campus, local,
state, national, and global communities. Civic engagement includes such
activities as developing informed perspectives on social issues,
working with others to solve public problems, taking an active role in
the political process, advocating for policies that address issues of
concern to you, and, of course, engaging directly in activities that
meet human and community needs.

The CE Initiative is an extended
opportunity for the College to collectively consider some of the
current thinking about CE and the impact it currently has here at
Guilford. We look forward to discussing the effectiveness of the
established CE efforts here at Guilford and considering how we might
improve or expand these important opportunities for our students.

Ten
students have been selected to participate in the Principled Problem
Solving Scholars Program during the 2009-10 academic year. The
scholars, representing the traditional and adult student populations,
will begin a four-semester sequence of courses and engaged learning
opportunities beginning this fall. Each will receive a scholarship,
support for a summer internship with a partner community organization
in Asheville, Greensboro or Raleigh, and the support of an alumni
mentor. They will also have the opportunity to develop projects of
their own design in partnership with the program's leadership.

This
interdisciplinary program builds on Guilford's commitment to principled
problem solving as a method for putting the college's core values to
work in the world, offering students an extended examination of matters
of social change and innovation in a variety of settings.

The
scholars program is an effort of the Center for Principled Problem
Solving and is funded by the college with internship support provided
by the Lilly Foundation. The scholars program is dedicated to fostering
excellence in engaged teaching, learning and scholarship and seeks to
equip students with the critical and constructive knowledge and skills
to address the world's needs focused on Guilford's core values.

Sherry Giles, an associate professor of justice and policy studies, has been selected for the 2009-10 Faculty Fellowship in the Center for Principled Problem Solving. She succeeds Kyle Dell, who was the inaugural faculty fellow.

Giles, who is also coordinator of the community and justice studies major, teaches courses in community problem solving, participatory action research and group dynamics, and her primary research interests are the group dynamics of social change initiatives and the impact of field-based pedagogy on student learning.

Giles' faculty fellowship will focus on the significance of Guilford's core values of 'community' and 'justice' for principled problem solving and engaged learning in general. She will also draw on her fellowship research in these areas to enhance the Community and Justice Studies curriculum.

She holds the doctorate in psychology from Columbia
University, a master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary and a bachelor of arts in French Literature from the University of
Texas at Austin. Giles is also a trained community organizer.

The Center for Principled Solving is dedicated to promoting engaged learning, teaching and scholarship motivated and shaped by Guilford’s core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship. The faculty fellowship is currently funded by the college and offers faculty members the opportunity to undertake an extended PPS project and to assume a leadership role in the life of the center.